The Silver Screen Oasis

I want to thank you for the link to the original radio play of Sorry Wrong Number and all the info about it. I always knew it was made for radio and was more effective there, but man, that was great. I sent it off to many friends and family.

Does anyone here remember CBS Radio Mystery Theater? I discovered this show on my portable AM radio on Saturday nights (the only night I was allowed to stay up till ten) and through the years I listened to it sometimes every night at bedtime. E.G. Marshall hosted, and I just looked it up and found that Agnes Moorehead had the first episode of the show that ever aired (I am sure this was on purpose, the producers were very savvy), and also another episode that same year - 1974.

I just loved that show, and would wait to see who the guest star would be. I wish that it had really taken off, and there had been a resurgence of radio shows on the air, but it seems that it was a one shot deal that happened to last ten years. Too bad... I remember it being great fun to listen and use my imagination lying there in the dark.....

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I am sure you have probably seen this already. I found it the other day and thought of you. Hope you like it.

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You're right, PT, it is beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing, and also for this thread.

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I always found Hayes to be far too matronly, until she reached middle age, for the roles she played in films. I can't accept her at all as a romantic lead. To me, she looks, and acts, like a spinster elementary school principal, no matter what she's supposed to be. The great Shirley Booth, who was far more matronly and dumpy-looking than Hayes, had much more physical/feminine appeal on the screen

I wonder if Hayes' matronliness was easier to disguise on the stage. In these photos, she looks like Aggie's mother.

Oh, god, I love Shirley Booth! So much more than Hazel. She was superb as Dolly Levi in The Matchmaker (one of my favorite favorite movies). I cannot picture anyone else playing the role anymore. Did you know she was the original Liz Imbrie in The Philadelphia Story?

JackFavell wrote:Oh, god, I love Shirley Booth! So much more than Hazel. She was superb as Dolly Levi in The Matchmaker (one of my favorite favorite movies). I cannot picture anyone else playing the role anymore. Did you know she was the original Liz Imbrie in The Philadelphia Story?

And she was the original Bunny Watson in Desk Set, and the original Jane Hudson in Time of the Cuckoo, a/k/a Summertime. Katharine Hepburn played both those roles on the screen. In Philadelphia Story, she and Hepburn were on the stage at the same time. It takes a tough cookie to measure up to Hepburn, and I'm sure Booth was more than able, so much so, that Hepburn wanted to play Booth's parts in movie versions of the two plays first mentioned above.

And how about Booth as Robert Ryan's long-time mistress in About Mrs. Leslie? I can't for the life of me see someone like Helen Hayes playing that part (although I certainly can see Hepburn doing it).

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Professional Tourist wrote:Did you guys know that Aggie and Shirley Booth were both up for the part of Hazel in that television series? Aggie wanted the part, too, but didn't get it (obviously). In retrospect, I don't think anyone could picture Agnes as Hazel, any more that we could picture Shirley as Endora.

LOL -- I feel the same way, but these ladies would probably have surprised us. I'll probably spend the rest of the day thinking about what that reverse casting might have been. Hmmmmm . . . . . .

I'd love to be in an alternate universe to see how each of them played the opposite parts....... Shirley as Endora and Agnes as Hazel. I am sure you are quite right - they would have surprised us.

How about Don Defore as uncle Arthur ?

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